Purpose-limited JWT accepted as full bearer authentication in AshAuthentication
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Passive
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-287.
Summary
Improper Authentication vulnerability in team-alembic AshAuthentication allows purpose-limited JWTs to be replayed as full bearer API credentials when a resource uses stateless bearer-token verification. The bearer-token authentication helper AshAuthentication.Plug.Helpers.retrieve_from_bearer/3 verifies an Authorization: Bearer JWT's signature and rejects tokens containing an act claim, but performs no check that the token's purpose claim equals user at the bearer boundary. When the resource is configured with require_token_presence_for_authentication?: false (the DSL default), the follow-on validate_token/3 helper returns {:ok, nil} without consulting the token resource, so no downstream check on purpose takes place either. As a result, any valid, non-expired JWT the library itself issued for a narrow, single-purpose flow (most notably the purpose: sign_in token that WebAuthn always emits during sign-in, and that the Password strategy emits when sign-in tokens are enabled) is accepted directly as a general-purpose bearer credential and resolves to a full current_user assignment. This bypasses the library's intended token-exchange contract, in which the sign_in token is meant to be presented exactly once to a preparation that validates the purpose claim and immediately revokes the token. The first use of a still-valid sign-in token presented directly in the Authorization header succeeds because the stateless bearer path never scopes it to purpose == "user". An attacker who obtains a not-yet-exchanged sign-in token for a target subject (for example via log or referrer leakage, an intercepted magic-link delivery channel, or a partially compromised intermediary) can present it as a bearer token and be authenticated as that subject, fully bypassing the intended one-time-use and revocation semantics. Exploitation additionally requires that the host application wire up retrieve_from_bearer/3 on a reachable route and uses either WebAuthn (sign-in tokens are always issued) or the Password strategy with sign_in_tokens_enabled?: true. Resources configured with require_token_presence_for_authentication?: true (including applications scaffolded by the Igniter installer since v4.5.0) and the session-based path (authenticate_resource_from_session/4) enforce purpose == "user" against the stored token record and are not affected. This issue affects ash_authentication: from 3.10.5 before 4.14.2 and from 5.0.0-rc.0 before 5.0.0-rc.13.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| team-alembic | ash_authentication | 3.10.5 to before 4.14.2; 5.0.0-rc.0 to before 5.0.0-rc.13 | 4.14.2, 5.0.0-rc.13 | Patch available | CNA |
- ash_authentication Vendorteam-alembic Affected 3.10.5 to before 4.14.2; 5.0.0-rc.0 to before 5.0.0-rc.13 Fixed in 4.14.2, 5.0.0-rc.13 Patch available CNA
CPE names CNA · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:team-alembic:ash_authentication:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | — |
- cpe:2.3:a:team-alembic:ash_authentication:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·—
Remediation
- Fix · CNA ash_authentication (team-alembic) Fixed in 4.14.2, 5.0.0-rc.13
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
team-alembic ash_authentication 4.14.2, 5.0.0-rc.13
2 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 1 HIGH, 1 MEDIUM
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-47468 Reflected XSS in AshAuthentication confirmation and magic link interaction formsPriority MEDIUM 44
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-65633
References
Patch 2
Advisory 1
More team-alembic vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-36668 OAuth2/OIDC account takeover in AshAuthentication via email-based user matching CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.2
- TI-2026-59214 Revoked session accepted because the session jti is never checked in AshAuthentication and AshAuthentication Phoenix CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-58664 `require_confirmed_with` is not enforced on the action and fails open on an unreadable attribute in AshAuthentication CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-53751 Remember-me sign-in guard reads a session key that is never written in ash_authentication, allowing session replacement CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-57079 Magic link single-use tokens replayable via TOCTOU race in AshAuthentication CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-47468 Reflected XSS in AshAuthentication confirmation and magic link interaction forms CVSS 4.0LOW 2.1
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences